


exile

by mellowasinyellow



Series: folklore [3]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Break Up, F/M, blame Taylor Swift, break up story, it just has Gale being a general dick about wanting to be in a relationship with Katniss, sorry - Freeform, yeah so this is not a Galeniss story, yeah this is not a happy one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:00:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29782692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mellowasinyellow/pseuds/mellowasinyellow
Summary: Peeta just wants to see the new Marvel film before it gets spoiled but he doesn't want to see his ex.
Relationships: Katniss Everdeen & Peeta Mellark, Katniss Everdeen/Gale Hawthorne, Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark
Series: folklore [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2098236
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25
Collections: folklore





	exile

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, so I feel like my hyperfixation is shifting (again) but I wrote a short little story for Everlark inspired by nearly every song on Taylor Swift's folklore with a view to polishing them up so I wouldn't feel super embarrassed to post them, but here we are. This has not been polished. It leaves a lot to be desired but I thought I would rather share it than let it just sit on my hard drive.

Peeta POV

My mood turns instantly when I see her. She’s standing in line and she’s got that little smile on her lips as some tall dark haired guy with his arm around her waist jokes around. I can’t help the blind rage building in my mind. What on earth is she doing here? There’s nothing playing tonight except the new Marvel movie and I know how she hates them. Also, what the fuck is she doing here on a date when she knows Rye and I always go to the midnight release screenings. 

“You alright?” Rye asks from next to me and I realise my face feels flushed and my eyes are boring into her. Rye glances down the line and raises his eyebrows. “So much for just friends,” he sighs. “You’re better off without that in your life Peet.” 

I double take and I realise that it’s not some tall, dark, handsome stranger whose arm is enveloping her waist. It’s Gale fucking Hawthorne. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I spit in disgust. 

“Hey, she’s not your problem anymore,” Rye tries to play it off as I watch her and Gale step towards the counter to order their tickets. His slithering arm lets go of her waist as he converses with the clerk and she turns, gazing around the room. Her eyes land on me and it’s like I’ve burnt her. She blinks, her face flushing to mirror mine and she turns stubbornly back to the counter. 

“Fuck this,” I mutter and make to leave the line. Thinking only of getting as far away as possible from those grey eyes. Rye grabs my arm though. 

“No, we are watching this movie and we are going to enjoy it. I will not be spoiled by twitter again.” He pulls me back into line and we move forward as Katniss and Gale leave the line with their tickets. He has his arm draped over her shoulders now and she’s laughing at whatever stupid thing he is saying, but her eyes dart in our direction just once more before they head towards the screens. 

Rye begins hypothesising how the clip we saw at the end of the Far From Home credits will play into this movie and I join him, because it’s what we have always done and I’m an espresso and two beers into the night already. 

When we get into the screen the trailers have started and the lights are dimmed so we tread carefully towards row W and are relived to find our seats on the end so that we don’t have to disturb anybody. It’s only after we are sitting and I have begun to take in the trailer for a new Fast and Furious movie that I see a dark braid right in front of me and I let out an exasperated sigh. How was this happening? Rye’s hand falls on my shoulder and I shake it off and sink back in my chair as that snake slithers his arm around her shoulder, toying with her braid. I spend the rest of the trailers repressing my overwhelming urge to break his arm.

The film begins and for a while I get lost in the story, but it seems Gale is also lost and he starts whispering to Katniss, clearly asking what is going on. Katniss gives short answers but it starts to grate and people are looking up and down the row to find the source of these idiotic questions. It goes on a while but when he leans over to ask who the guy in the eye patch is Rye has had enough. 

He leans forward and taps Gale’s shoulder, “Sorry to interrupt, it’s just I’m trying to watch the movie.” Gale looks bewildered by the interruption but Katniss looks catatonically mortified when she turns to see that I am indeed sitting next to Rye. Gale’s eyes follow hers. I stare straight ahead at the screen willing the movie to end, the projector to cut out, or a bomb to drop on the movie theatre. 

“Gotcha,” Gale gives a smirk and turns back around. 

He gives up trying to keep up with the movie and instead his snake-like arms redouble their efforts to touch every inch of Katniss and I snap. To hell with Rye, to hell with the movie, to hell with internet spoilers. Katniss had a point. All these films are the same. I storm out, past Rye and thunder down the aisle. 

I pace a few moments outside of the screen trying to calm myself, while all the while getting more and more furious. Gale clearly had no interest in Marvel movies. Had she just brought him to the midnight release knowing I would be here? And how the fuck do two people go from ‘just good friends’ to canoodling like teenagers in a movie theatre in a matter of months? I resist the urge to punch the wall and become aware of the teenage attendant watching me with some curiosity so fling my way into the bathroom. 

Katniss POV

I slip out of the movie theatre just in time to see him pushing his way through the bathroom door. 

I inhale deeply and sit on the attendant’s chair to wait. When he reappears, he begins to head for the exit and doesn’t even glance back at the screen. 

“Peeta,” I call out. He startles and turns. His eyes are dark and filled with fury. “I’m sorry Peeta, I didn’t-”

“Didn’t think I’d be here?” 

“What?” 

“What were you thinking,” he storms towards me. “Why did you bring him here? Did it not occur to you I might be at the midnight showing?” 

“So what, I can’t go to the movie theatre in my own town? You want me to go 2 towns over to watch dumb Marvel movies?” I snap back and it seems to deflate him a little. 

“Katniss,” He sighs gripping his temple. “I’m not saying you can’t be here. I’m just saying you can’t expect me to sit behind you while you make out with him like a teenager…” 

“You didn’t have to sit there,” I spit back.

“It was assigned seating. You think I would choose to sit behind my ex on a date with her ex?” 

“Gale’s not my-”

“Save it Katniss, I just watched him with his hands all over you and his tongue down your throat.” That’s when I feel the tears prick in my eyes. “Don’t start crying,” he warns, but it’s too late. I am sobbing in the hallway of the movie theatre and he is standing there the anger slowly ebbing to be replaced by frustration directed me.

“I- I forgot you would be here,” I sob at him and he remains silent but when I look up, I can see tears in his eyes too. 

“It just hurts Katniss. Seven years I had to pretend to get along with him, the whole while knowing he was waiting for me to leave.”

“Why is it always about him?” I wipe my eyes fiercely willing them to stop their tears. 

“Because you can’t stay away from him. That’s why you left.” 

“I never left Peeta,” I finally have a handle on the tears and take a few deep breaths to steady myself. 

“Well I didn’t see you for days on end and I know you saw him day in and day out,” he wipes his own hands on his jeans trying to get rid of the tears himself. 

“Prim was-”

“Don’t.” He cuts me off. “Prim was sick, but why couldn’t I come? Why did you have to do it alone? Why did you ask him to help day after day, and you never asked me? We were getting married Katniss, and you couldn’t even ask me for rides to the hospital.” 

“He offered. You were studying. It was only a big deal because you turned it into one.” 

“Oh, I turned it into a big deal? Being left in an apartment while my fiancée slowly moved all of her stuff out?” 

“I was coming back.” 

“Well you never told me. I’m going home Katniss. Enjoy the movie.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. I know it's not exactly 'finished' but hopefully it made you feel things. Like everyone who posts their work on here, I really appreciate kudos and comments.


End file.
